Palestinian prisoners´ families protest demanding release of their relatives

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Source: CCTV.com | 03-24-2009 10:02

Families of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons gathered at the International Committee of the Red Cross headquarters in Gaza on Monday. They were demanding the release of their relatives.

Palestinian prisoners pray in an Israeli  prison.Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski[file]

The protest comes just days after talks in Cairo between Israel and Hamas over a prisoner swap ran aground. Negotiations aimed at freeing a single captured Israeli soldier broke down last week, with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert saying demands by Hamas for the release were excessive. Israel is holding an estimated 11,000 Palestinian prisoners in its jails.

Hamas has demanded the release of 14-hundred of them, including about 450 long-term inmates. Israel agreed to free several hundred, but refused to release some of the masterminds of suicide bombings that have killed Israeli civilians.